Since We Fell

A Novel

De: Dennis Lehane

Narrado por: Julia Whelan

Since We Fell follows Rachel Childs, a former journalist who, after an on-air mental breakdown, now lives as a virtual shut-in. In all other respects, however, she enjoys an ideal life with an ideal husband. Until a chance encounter on a rainy afternoon causes that ideal life to fray. As does Rachel's marriage. As does Rachel herself. Sucked into a conspiracy thick with deception, violence, and possibly madness, Rachel must find the strength within herself to conquer unimaginable fears and mind-altering truths.

By turns heartbreaking, suspenseful, romantic, and sophisticated, Since We Fell is a novel of profound psychological insight and tension. It is Dennis Lehane at his very best.

©2017 Dennis Lehane (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Cliche as all get out.

I really wanted to like this story. But I realized roughly a quarter of the way through that it simply was not going to improve. I listened to the entirety. The narraror, Julie Whelan did a fine job, except when she portrayed male characters and they all sounded the same.
After loving the film adaptations of Lehane's "Shutter Island", "Mystic River", and "Gone Baby Gone," I figured I would listen to a fresh story of his. I couldn't help but feel that after a while, he seemed to write as if he was a student who was required to turn in an essay which was required to be a certain number of words in length and he did everything he could think of to get to that number. It got to the point of being very predictable even to how he would describe something. This was my first exposure to Dennis Lehane as an author and I'm not certain I would waste time with a second book.
Towards the end, our main character, who has been through every sort of pain one can survive, and has learned from their mistakes simply seems to shrug her shoulder and say to herself "Well, guess this is my life now" after she makes a drastic, important decision. After that, the cliches come faster than a Dennis Lehane simile.
This really is not a good book.

Shockingly Amazing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes! I think I recommended it to quite a few people, actually. The story had a bunch of riveting twists and turns. At first, I could never tell if the narrator was telling the truth, and by the end I was surprised I wasn't reading an entirely different story. And I loved every minute of it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Who couldn't love Rachel? She was doing the best she could. She went through an entirely too traumatic event, and then she just goes on this crazy, wild ride. She was so strong throughout the whole story.

Which scene was your favorite?

There's three that pop up in mind immediately:
1) When she goes to Haiti and they're trying to avoid the rapists all night.
2) When she meets Nate outside of her husband's office building. It all seems so normal.
3) When she pictures being killed by the gangsters when leaving her apartment.

I mean, the WHOLE thing is crazy, and the more I think on it, the more memorable it becomes.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I might have screamed a lot towards the end. I didn't trust anyone, and I hated Rachel for being so trusting.

Any additional comments?

You are cheating yourself if you don't select this book. It was amazing. Even looking back I can't believe how shocking all of the plot twists were. And there were so many! 100% worth the purchase.

Kept you guessing

Always enjoy Dennis Lehane and this one kept you guessing. Characters were well developed and believable .... and then they weren't who you thought they were.

Not Your Father's Lehayne

I have enjoyed Dennis Lehayne's previous novels, and I actually liked this one. But the author took some liberties with this novel. One of the problems with a complex novel is that the author has t take some shortcuts to advance the novel. As a result we find Lehayne telling us how to feel about situations rather than letting the writing do it for us. I think he fails to fully develop the main character's trust issues and panic attacks before they become pivotal to the plot.

Still Lehayne tells a terrific story. The character development is a little light, but not bad for the genre. He is also inadequate in some of the perceptions told from a woman's point of view - a male writer takes a certain risk in making his main character a woman.

The reader is pretty good. I have problem with the way women readers do male voices, but this one is better than most. She even pronounced Worcester correctly!

Meh

The writing began colorful, but definitely lacked in Ingenuity and Imagination. I lost interest in the characters and their plights quickly, and while there was one relatively surprising plot twist, the work was altogether, forgettable.

It also reeked of white saviorism, which was unfortunate. the author clearly wanted to highlight the devastation of Haitian life authentically and compassionately, but the execution fell flat and self-centered.

The narration was fantastic though, and was one of the main reasons I finished the book.

struggled to finish it

The unabridged version was very convoluted and difficult to finish . The narration was good.

Grabs you right away

Great book with lots of twists. You never know what to believe. I enjoyed that. Definitely not predictable.

Dennis Lehane does not disappoint!

Remarkable and exciting non-stop psycho thriller! I love this book. Was a afraid Shutter Island would was his best, but Since We Fell is just as excellent in a different and new way! Now I can hardly wait for Lehane's next novel!

love Dennis Lehane

I always enjoy the twists and turns of aDennis Lehane story! The narrator did an exceptional job reading.

Faulty Audio Download

The story and the performance were both great, one of the best I've ever heard, but the download file was severely damaged and I was unable to resolve it. There were no chapters and no ability to see where I was in the story or drag to a certain point. At one point in trying to figure out why it wouldn't show the chapter settings or point in the story, I got reset to the beginning and had to move forward several hours by just leaving it to play at fast forward speed while I want listening and then jumping forward in one minute increments. I tried deleting it from my phone and downloading it again several times, updating my audible app and turning my phone off and on in between. This problem didn't affect any other audiobook. I finally gave up and was just really careful not to lose my place again.